Bitcoin Global News (BGN)
April 19, 2018 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- Is the grand vision
behind crytocurrency being fulfilled? With promises being made
early on in the space related to making sending money
internationally cheaper than ever before, crypto has never shied
away from the major goal of connecting the world, in this way. In
fact, Satoshi Nakamoto wanted this to be one of Bitcoin’s and
therefore, the crypto industry’s, driving features.
Cryptocurrencies like Stellar and
Ripple have based their entire operations around the idea that
crypto should make the movement of money as easy as
possible.
Despite this and despite Satoshi’s
vision of a global, peer-to-peer currency network, Bitcoin largely
seems to have become a store of value similar to gold.
In the last 24 hours, however, it’s
been reported that LocalBitcoins, which some define as the
crypto-industry’s equivalent to Craigslist, has been showing its
true potential related to how Satoshi defined
cryptocurrencies.
Before delving into how this has
been playing out, if you do not already know what a peer-to-peer
currency network is, think of it as a place where users buy and
sell with other users. That’s it.
Users that want to sell Bitcoin on
the site set a range of acceptable prices and the buyer decides
which one that he or she wants to choose. For example,
Beyond this, the key
differentiating feature of LocalBitcoins is that it allows you to
find exchange partners where you live, so that you can even
exchange Bitcoins, in person.
In countries like Venezuela, where
inflation runs rampant and trust in traditional currencies is
almost non-existent, trading volume on LocalBitcoins has risen
rapidly recently. In fact, it’s been reported that last week, $55
million changed hands in Venezuela, Peru, and Tanzania alone. This
is particularly noteworthy in that all of these countries are
struggling to provide stable currencies to their citizens, due to
various problems.
In this case $55 million changing
hands in a week is also significant, in that it veritably blows
said week’s US trading volume on the same site, out of the water.
To put this into a bit of perspective, during this time, these
three countries appear to have traded 6 times more Bitcoin than US
citizens did, on the site.
Even though LocalBitcoins been
around since 2012, it’s largely been thought of as a small player
in the crypto industry, until now. On top of this, it’s often been
criticized due to robberies related to the site as well as the way
that it arguably facilitates criminal activity. Even so, the CEO of
LocalBitcoins seems confident that his site could be leading the
way in solving the basic problem of how to easily transfer Bitcoin
to fiat and back, without a lot of hassle.
BY: BGN Editorial Staff